Legendary actor Al Pacino is the latest to join the star-studded cast of Dead Man’s Wire, an upcoming hostage thriller from Academy Award nominee Gus Van Sant. Written by Austin Kolodney, the film is said to be based on a true hostage situation that took place on February 8, 1977.
“The morning of February 8, 1977, Anthony G “Tony” Kiritsis, 44, entered the office of Richard O Hall, president of the Meridian Mortgage Company, and took him hostage with a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun wired with a “dead man’s wire” from the trigger to Tony’s own neck. This is the true story of the stand-off that took the world by storm as Tony demanded $5 million, no charges or prosecution, and a personal apology from the Halls for cheating him out of what he was “owed,” reads the logline of the film.
Al Pacino joins the previously announced actors Bill Skarsgard, Dacre Montgomery, Myha’la, Cary Elwes and Colman Domingo. Their roles, including Al Pacino's have not been disclosed. The Heat actor returns to a hostage thriller after the 1975 hit Dog Day Afternoon. Dead Man’s Wire will be Pacino's first collboration with Van Sant.
Production of Dead Man’s Wire began in January this year and is expected to complete in May. Pacino was last seen in Knox Goes Away (2023), directed by Michael Keaton. He will next appear in David Midell’s The Ritual, Eif Rivera’s Killing Castro, Julian Schnabel’s Hand of Dante, Alec Griffin Roth’s Billy Knight, and Nic Pizzolatto’s Easy Waltz.